Monday, September 26, 2011

Whipping it out for Og

Take the knife out of your pocket and take a picture of it, and post it. Or post a picture of the same knife from a brochure or whatever.

No, not your favorite knife, or your prettiest, but the one that never leaves your side.

This is my most common daily carry pocket knife:

It's a first production run Mel Pardue Ambush, made by Benchmade in mid 2003, when they were still making these in the U.S.

I've probably carried it in my left front pants pocket 8 days out of ten since I bought it in early 2004... and it certainly shows.

That said, the blade is great, I keep it incredibly sharp, it handles well... I love it. In particular I love the size of it.

Most pocket knives are too small for me, this one most definitely is not; with a 4.25" plain edge blade (4" sharpened length), and a 4.75" hilt, .5" thick and 1.25" wide at the widest, it's one of the few pocket knives out there that actually fills my hand, and gives me a blade long enough to balance properly. Also the action is so smooth I can flick it open quick as an automatic, and flick it closed faster.

Unfortunately, the Ambush has been discontinued by Benchmade (Mel Pardue will still make you one if you want though, with any decoration or hilt you want... but he aint cheap, and his backlog is I think about two years at this point), as most people seem to think it's too big for a pocket knife. The "mini ambush" was also offered up until recently, but it only has a 3" blade, and a polymer hilt.

I have plenty of other pocket knives; from expensive high end custom pieces, to $10 "superknife" utility blade type folders, and I do carry them sometimes... but the ambush is my default knife to pickup and clip to my pocket every morning.